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"Colours" by Donovan - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

Recently, I have become enamored all over again with many of the songs I grew up with from the 60's.  One of the artists I have always loved was a Scottish singer / songwriter / poet from Scotland, Donovan Leitch who is better known as simply Donovan. Donovan is widely regarded as one of the most influential songwriters and recording artists - and is still active in music today.  Even the Beatles acknowledged that Donovan influenced them greatly on their ground breaking Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band album and the White Album with his finger style guitar playing and many of his unique chord patterns.  While I love most of his songs, I have been listening more to his earlier works that have their roots in folk music.  One of them, a sweet, simple and beautiful song, Colours, is the inspiration for this week's Wonderful Handmade Wednesday post.

The Autumn Wind is a Pirate - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

Since I live in the Desert Southwest, autumn comes creeping slowly in with cooler temperatures.  Most of the trees here are evergreen so there isn’t much color change.  This time of the year, I always think about the forest we lived in for 10 years in Northern Virginia.  Oh, the glorious colors as the leaves on the trees changed.!!!  Sometimes almost blinding color combinations.  Then sometimes, the wind would hit and the leaves became a carpet of color on the forest floor.  I ran across this great quote about autumn wind from Steve Sabol:  “The autumn wind is a pirate. Blustering in from sea with a rollicking song he sweeps along swaggering boisterously. His face is weather beaten, he wears a hooded sash with a silver hat about his head . . . The autumn wind is a raider, pillaging just for fun.”  A pillaging wind playing with and swirling the colorful leaves!

What a Spooky Halloween! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

With the last days of September rapidly approaching, Halloween and Day of the Dead festivities will arrive before we realize it.  With that in mind, I decided to browse the studios of Indiemade artist friends and pull together a variety of spookily fun handmade items:  some in oranges and black, some with skulls, one with spooky black cats and a set of ever watchful owls.  Any of these mostly one of a kind handmade beauties will be perfect for the other side of life parties.  Enjoy!

Great Blue Dome - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

My husband, Seamus (our sweet, goofus Moose of a dog) and I are fortunate to live in the Desert Southwest, a part of the country where the sky is immense and an ever changing blue most of the year.  In fact, a cloudy day (like today!) is actually a treat!  I was gazing out the window in my studio the other day when a Thomas Carlyle quote came to me:  "The old cathedrals are good, but the great blue dome that hangs over everything is better."  And I have to agree!  Even though I love visiting old cathedrals with a sense of wonderment, spirituality and awe - Canterbury Cathedral, Koln Cathedral, Notre Dame, National Cathedral, St, Paul's to name a few - I absolutely revel in the everchanging "great blue dome" that is above my head almost every day. The colors can range from the palest blue to a deep, mystical, velvety blue that occurs 45 minutes or so after the sun has dipped below the horizon and the sunset has faded.

New Handmade Items from the Cross Partners in Promotion Group

 

The very talented members of the Cross Partners in Promotion group share new handmade items for all the world to see.  There is always a wide range of handmade beauties to be found:  from all styles of jewelry to hand knitted and crocheted items; from dog bandanas to polymer clay thumbtacks and fun party stickers, plus more.  You never know what will be shared next.  And you can always find something for even the pickiest gift receiver!

It's A Beach Wedding - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

 

June is the traditional month to get married.  But how did that tradition start? Inquiring minds want to know!  I found two major thoughts on the start of the tradition of June weddings:

A Bounty of Blues - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

The history of blue is very interesting. If you stop and think about it, there is not a lot of natural blue in nature. Most people worldwide do not have blue eyes, blue flowers do not occur without human tinkering, and blue animals are rare -- birds that are blue only live in certain areas. The sky is blue . . . or is it? One interesting theory suggests that before humans had words for the color blue, they actually saw the sky as another color! This theory is supported by the fact that if you never name the color of the sky to a child, and then ask what color it is, he/she will struggle to describe it.  Some describe the sky as colorless and some describe it as white. It seems that only after being told that the sky is blue, and after seeing other blue objects over a period of time, does the sky look blue in their eyes. I wonder now, when I was very young, if I saw the sky as "blue" before or after it was given a color name.  Something to ponder over!

The Language of Flowers - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

There is a language, little known,

Lovers claim it as their own.

Its symbols smile upon the land,

Wrought by nature's wondrous hand ...

–The Language of Flowers, London, 1875

 

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